Chicago Area Local News

KANKAKEE, Ill. (CBS) ― Former Gov. George Ryan arrived today at the federal prison camp in Oxford, Wis., entering through the back gate and avoiding the media. 

Ryan, 73, entered the federal correctional center about noon, Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said. He entered through a back gate, avoiding a throng of media awaiting his arrival at the main entrance.

Oxford prison spokeswoman Christine Montonna said Ryan was "a high-profile inmate" and prison officials brought him in a back way to protect him and maintain order at the prison.

"We felt it was a security step that we had to take," Montonna said when asked whether Ryan had received special treatment. She did not specify what, if any, danger Ryan might have faced.

As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, Ryan did not have to arrive at the federal prison in Oxford, Wis., until 5 p.m. But Ryan left his home in Kankakee at 5:52 a.m. to make the 255-mile trip. He waved, but said nothing.

Ryan's procession was seen heading up Lake Shore Drive downtown around 7 a.m., and Ryan and his family stopped at the Original Pancake House, at 22 E. Bellevue Pl. in the Gold Coast shortly thereafter.

When Ryan stopped at the restaurant, he ate nothing. He only drank coffee, and the total check was about $20. The waitress who served them said the former governor tried to leave a $50 tip for her, but someone else in the party took the $50 bill and left $7 instead.

It's been more than a year and a half since former Gov. George Ryan was convicted of racketeering and fraud after a long and contentious trial, and 14 months since he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

But while Ryan persuaded judges to keep him out of prison for more than a year while he appealed his conviction, those options have now been exhausted. After the U.S. Supreme Court denied another appeal bond, Ryan was left with no choice but to report to prison on Wednesday.

Addressing reporters Tuesday night, Ryan said he had a "clear conscience" as he prepared to serve his sentence for corruption that destroyed his political career and left the state awash in scandal.

"Tomorrow I embark on a new journey in my life. I do so with a firm faith in God and the support and faith of my family," Ryan said in the front yard of his Kankakee home, surrounded by his wife, Lura Lynn, his children and other friends.

"But I do so with a clear conscience. And I have said since the beginning of this 10-year ordeal that I am innocent and I intend to prove that," Ryan said.

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens refused to grant Ryan bail, issuing his decision less than 24 hours after a final, urgent plea by Ryan's lawyers, who said his six-month trial had been unfair and plagued by errors.

Former Gov. James Thompson, Ryan's chief defense counsel, said he was not surprised by Stevens' decision not to grant bail while Ryan continues to press his case before the nation's highest court.

"We knew that our petition for bail was a long shot," he told reporters at a news conference. But Thompson said he would go ahead and try to get the Supreme Court to consider Ryan's appeal even as the former governor serves time.

Ryan's family stood by him as he made his statement outside his home in Kankakee Tuesday night. That family also stood by him during the swirl of accusations and the trial that resulted in his 2006 conviction.

"It would have been easy over the course of these years to fold under the overwhelming pressure and enter into a plea bargain – that would have spared my family a lot of pain," Ryan said. "But such a plea would just not have been truthful."

Meanwhile, Thompson will be there for him, from the drive to Wisconsin to the legal battle ahead.

"We will exhaust every right that Governor Ryan has coming to him. The last one will be a petition for certuary in the Supreme Court. But in addition to being my client, George Ryan has been my friend for over 30 years, and I don't run from friends who get in trouble."

True to what he said, Thompson was in the car waiting to take Ryan to the Wisconsin prison.

Ryan was convicted of steering big-money state contracts to Warner and other friends, using state money and state workers to run his campaigns and killing an investigation of bribes paid for truck driver's licenses.

People affected by the Licenses for Bribes scandal that marred Ryan's career have been speaking out.

The Rev. Scott Willis and his wife, Janet, lost six of their children in an accident caused by a trucker who had paid a bribe for his license, on Nov. 8, 1994.

Ryan was secretary of state at the time, and the Willises believe he knew employees were taking bribes in exchange for licenses.

Their attorney released a statement: "Justice prevailed in the case. They believe in accountability. They also believe George Ryan should be held criminally accountable for his corrupt conduct. Despite the fact that he had 19 defense lawyers, he was found guilty on all counts."

Ryan's family and others will remember him being called worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize for emptying death row in Illinois when it became clear so many cases were deeply flawed, or for traveling to Cuba to try to engage Fidel Castro. But both may be overshadowed by that horrible accident in Wisconsin in which the Willis children died, and Ryan's subsequent conviction he still maintains was unfair.

His claim that he did not receive a fair trial is based primarily on chaotic jury deliberations. Two jurors were dismissed after it was found they had omitted mention of their police records on a questionnaire. 

Life In A Federal Prison
The minimum-security prison camp, located about 60 miles north of Madison, has space for 206 inmates in four wings, said Mike Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington. It is in a mostly rural area with land set aside nearby for waterfowl habitat.

Ryan's typical work day will begin at 7:30 a.m. and include duties such as mopping floors, cleaning toilets, raking leaves, cutting grass, painting and shoveling snow, Truman said.

Former Chicago Ald. Ambrosio Medrano served a sentence at the Oxford prison after his conviction in the Operation Silver Shuttle investigation. He said Ryan should expect a strict environment, but he said the separation from one's family creates the greatest hardship.

When Ryan arrives, he will go to an orientation where he will be fingerprinted, pick up clothes, fill out forms and learn the rules.

"You certainly don't want to do anything wrong, because you could get transferred to another institution," Medrano said in a live interview with CBS 2's Randy Salerno and Roseanne Tellez on Wednesday morning's 11 a.m. news.

Medrano said the worst part of prison life was that he was unable to comfort his family in case of an emergency. But he said he did not think Ryan would be in personal danger.

"Everybody pretty much sticks to themselves," he said.

But another former alderman, Lou Farina, told CBS 2's Mike Parker that Ryan should learn to stay away from troublemakers.

"There are prisoners who hate politicians and if they can start a fist fight with you to get their name in the paper they'd just as soon do it," Farina said. "I had prisoners that were mean son of a guns. You know, the guys with 22 tattoos all over their bodies."

Farina served a sentence at the federal prison in Duluth, Minn. So did former Gov. Dan Walker, who said he saw a cellmate get raped in his cell, and that a guard ignored it.

Ryan had originally been scheduled to serve his sentence at Duluth, but a request to switch to Oxford was granted.

"I've been asked about the book that former Governor Walker wrote, the things that he saw," Medrano said "I don't know. I wasn't at Duluth. I didn't see them at Oxford. So (Ryan) should have a relatively easy time."

CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, Mike Parker, Randy Salerno and Roseanne Tellez, and the Associated Press, contributed to this report.

cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
 Slideshow: Fire Strikes Near South Side Building
 Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now
 Slideshow: Useless Body Parts
 Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities
 Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)